The Queen of Self-Editing

Have you ever spent an hour rewriting your first paragraph or even just your first sentence? I can’t claim the first sentence part, but I have certainly spent more time than I care to admit rewriting a paragraph. The result - a perfect paragraph, maybe? Not much to show for all the time spent. Who knew I had such perfectionist tendencies?

I think I might still be on this unproductive path if I hadn’t participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) last November. With the goal being 50,000 words in one month, I couldn’t afford to spend my time spinning my wheels in one place.

As the ladies before me have shared, editing and revising primarily belong after you’ve finished your first draft. That doesn’t mean that you absolutely, positively can’t edit or revise until then, but you need to know if you belong to the Queen of Self-Editing camp or the Perfectionists Only camp.

Campers need to be aware of the pitfalls of membership.

• Do you find yourself pausing with your fingers over the keyboard after every sentence and savoring the sound and flow of your words?
• If they don’t have just the right elusive something, do you go back and change them, again...and again...and again? And maybe...again?
• When you continue on and get to the next page, do you find yourself going back to reread the page before just to see if it needs improvement?

If you have any of the above signs, consider yourself a member. What is the cure? Since NaNoWriMo isn’t until November, the remedy will have to come elsewhere. Perhaps you can set a word count goal that will push you hard enough that there won’t be time to indulge in self-editing. Or you can ask other writers at your local ACFW chapter how they have overcome this malady.

As for me, I am still looking for a permanent cure. In the meantime, I will burn my membership cards and procrastinate as usual. This also cuts down on my self-editing time.

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Elaine Clampitt is serving as the Secretary/Treasurer for Mile High Scribes, the South Denver ACFW chapter. Elaine has 4 grown children. When she isn't busy self-editing or caring for her new puppy, she is working on her novel that is set in the world of professional ice hockey. To read profiles of women who participated in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games, go to The Women of Hockey.com.

To Thine Own Self Be True

The above quote from William Shakespeare's Hamlet has two meanings for me. One that has to do with my writing journey and one that has to do with characterization, our theme for this month's blog posts.

On October 30th of last year I decided that I would work on a completely new project for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those who were clueless like me). I threw all my other ideas out the window and pursued something that I was interested in - ice hockey. More specifically, the world of professional ice hockey. Thus, the first meaning of being "true to myself". I decided to write about something that was a passion for me.

Two days before writing was supposed to start, I scrambled to do research on my characters, setting, etc. I tried to do both throughout the first week, but the writing went faster than my research so I was filling in details about my characters as I went along. After that first week, I had the privilege of interviewing a woman in the NHL who has the same job as my protagonist. This led to my next dilemma.

What should I do when the plan I had for my character collided with the reality of my research? Do I tell myself that it is called "fiction" for a reason and who is going to know if my character would never behave that way or couldn't possibly do that on the job? What is my obligation to my sources to be true to the things they shared about their profession?

As a writer, I was faced with these questions about how or if my research would affect my characterization. I had to answer for myself not only how would I feel when the people I had interviewed during the course of my research read my book and saw that I had distorted or discounted what they had told me, but how important was it to me to be realistic in my portrayal of a character in their profession. Would I be true to reality even though I am writing fiction or would I go for "creative license" and write what worked for my story? Not only that, but as a Christian, what do my answers say about my perspective on the truth and how does that reflect on my integrity?

The complete quote from Hamlet is as follows:

"This above all: to thine own self be true.

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man."

I decided to be true to my character. To make her as real as possible. As research revealed more about what choices my character would make in her profession, I used that information to make my character one who is believable to those who are familiar with that world. Even though only a handful of people might know if it was true or not. It matters to me.

NaNoWriMo recap

Well, November is over. Can you believe we're only three weeks from Christmas? Yikes! How does the year go by so quickly?

NaNoWriMo 2009 is history. . . . Along with my own major shortfall of words. However, I'm that much farther along in this wip, so not all was lost.

Congratulations to all those who finished with 50,000 words. I know how incredible that feels. Even if they aren't all "good" words. That's okay, too.

I learned some things about my writing last month. The main thing is that I either have to dive into a wip with very little pre-planning or a complete detailed plan. There's no middle of the road for me.

Recently I took a little quiz to determine left brain vs. right brain, and which is more dominant. (Can't remember where/why I found this quiz, though.) It explained so much about me and how I approach every area of life: I am over 90% left-brained.

Now that won't come as a shock to those who know me, but it sure made me understand the dichotomy that is me. And I'm learning to accept it and I'm working to find ways to write that work for me.

What have you learned through your experience with NaNoWriMo this year? I know many of our ACFW Colorado members were participants. Please leave a comment with your answers.

Marjorie Vawter is a freelance editor and writer, who loves to encourage others to Christlikeness. She currently serves as ACFW Colorado Area Coordinator.

Confessions of a NaNoWriMo Writer

Like many of you I've joined the NaNoWriMo challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel during November.

I did this last year, and hardly anyone I knew was doing it. This year, all but one of my nine-member face-to-face critique group have signed up and are writing away. And many more on the Colorado loop have joined the challenge as well. (I still haven't added everyone to my buddy list; I will!)

Then I started with a premise and a very basic knowledge of my main characters (I knew their names and one characteristic/fact about them), and I knew who the villain (murderer) was and his motive. Other than that, it was total seat-of-the-pants. This year, I have well-developed main characters and villain, thanks to Jeff Gerke's Character Creation for the Plot-First Novelist. And I have a three-page synopsis outlining the plot.

Last year, I wrote every weekday, mostly meeting my goal of 3000 words per day. I took weekends off. This year so far, I've written two days for a grand total of just less than 5000 words. Sigh. Most of it is timing. Before I committed to NaNoWriMo, I took on several editing projects that were supposed to be done earlier this week. For various reasons, I'm still working on two big ones, with extended deadlines. And that has me backed up into other originally well-spaced deadlines. So . . . already I'm struggling.

When I bogged down last year in the middle weeks of writing, I took an entire day just to write. It worked well: hubby was working in Mesa, AZ; our son who lives at home was away that day and evening; and our daughter was living/working in London, England. No distractions. And I wrote myself through the slump and into the final third of the book where it flowed easily to the end. This year, I'm hoping to schedule at least three of those days . . . just not sure when yet.

It can be done. The Lord urged me into this at the last minute last year, and He enabled to meet that seemingly impossible goal. Sensing the Lord's nudging again this year, I signed up a little earlier, got my mind more organized, and had great hopes for accomplishing this goal again. It didn't seem so impossible this year. But guess what? Here I am on November 6, wondering how I'm going to hit 10,000 words, let alone over 50,000!

And this morning in my quiet time, it hit me that once again I've set out to meet a goal in my own strength. But, thankfully, this time I realized it much sooner than I have done in similar situations in the past. I cannot do anything without Christ. But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So . . . with God's help, I'm going to relax. My editing schedule changes are not a surprise to Him. He knew when He nudged me into this that I would be facing different challenges. He knows this book is way over my head and abilities to write. That's the way He planned it. And it won't be me who accomplishes the goal to get this rough draft written this month. It will be Christ who does that, through me.

Marjorie Vawter, the ACFW Colorado Area Coordinator, is a freelance editor and writer.